Maritime transport services: Are developing countries’ needs met by existing WTO rules?

Abstract

Maritime transport services facilitate international trade. But the vast range of activities in maritime transport services demand a thorough understanding of each driver and associated intricacies. Ultimately, do existing WTO rules impacting maritime transport services, particularly the WTO General Agreement on Trade in Services, meet disparate needs of developing countries? This article first reviews the scope of maritime transport services and the significance of developing economies in world trade. The notion of developing countries’ needs and changing trends are then investigated before scrutinising twin issues on the subject for developing economies namely, special and differential treatment and the issue of market access. Before concluding, the article considers some policy options and contemporary issues facing developing economies on the subject. Enhanced implementation of WTO rules is required for developing economies to benefit from maritime transport services although developing nations themselves will need to be pragmatic in their development policies.